In hybrid vehicles, an air conditioner is operated by the engine or by an electric motor when an engine is not driven. Currently, a constant load is applied to the air conditioner regardless of a traveling condition of the vehicle.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-078701, “air conditioner for an electric vehicle,” an operating signal S output from an on-vehicle charger and a pre-air conditioning switch determines whether or not the on-vehicle charger is being charged, and how much power the on-vehicle charger is charged. When the on-vehicle charger is being charged and pre-air conditioning is selected, the pre-air conditioning is conducted (steps 120 to 124). Then, the amount of the on-vehicle charger power is determined, and air conditioning capacity, which is preset by the level charger power, is selected (steps 126 to 134). It is thus possible to conduct the pre-air conditioning without consuming battery power even if the charged power is relatively small. However, controlling the pre-air conditioning is complicated because the pre-air conditioning is conducted only according to a battery state. Therefore, there is a need for a method of controlling an air conditioner more efficiently in consideration of the charge efficiency of a battery.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.